'We are...': All-rounder Moeen Ali backs England to defend T20 World Cup title in 2024

After England's disastrous run in the ODI World Cup 2023 edition held in India,all-rounder Moeen Ali has backed the Jos Buttler-led English camp to defend their T20 World Cup title in the upcoming 2024 edition. In the first half of next year, the T20 WC will be held in the West Indies and the USA. England won the last edition, which was held in Australia in 2022. Recently, the national side had a woeful run in the ODI WC, entering as the defending champions and one of the favourites, where they failed to enter the semi-finals and ended seventh.

Moeen believes England is a better T20I side than in ODIs and has firmly backed them to lift the title next year. Speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of the Abu Dhabi T10 tournament, he said, "We want to try and win again. I feel we are a better Twenty20 side. I’m sure we will come back stronger."

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Reflecting on England's poor run in the ODI WC, Moeen stated, "We didn’t play well throughout the World Cup. The batters were out of form and it happens in cricket. We’ve been so good over a long period now, but it is just one of those things that we just didn’t perform. It is a World Cup and a special one where all teams were good, but we weren’t just good."

England started the ODI WC with a loss to New Zealand and while they recovered with a big win over Bangladesh, everything went downhill from there on. They lost to Australia, India, South Africa, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka before ending their campaign with two back-to-back wins, over the Netherlands and Pakistan respectively.

England are the second-ranked side in T20Is currently. They will look to make a strong statement in the upcoming T20 WC in June 2024. At present, Buttler & Co. are in the West Indies for three ODIs and five T20Is.